Green film pushed by minister

PREFECTS were asked to screen the environmental film Home in towns ahead of the EU elections by the Ministry for Ecology.

Ecology Minister and UMP party member Jean-Louis Borloo has admitted his department sent a copy of the film and asked prefects to see that it was screened.

He has denied accusations of electioneering.

The EU elections saw surprisingly high support for the Europe Ecologie green coalition at 16.2% - six points higher than in opinion polls in the run up to the election.

The result placed them almost equal with the Socialist Party – the traditional opposition of the governing UMP – which saw their support crumble losing half their MEPs.

STORY: Greens surprise in EU elections

The existence of the letter was revealed by the newspaper Le Monde which described it as a ‘government order’.

Not all prefects carried out the instructions.

One prefect quoted anonymously by the paper said: “In my whole career I have never received such an order in the run up to an election.”

Another said: “We were entering a period ahead of the elections…There was no question of organising a public showing.”

A spokesman for the Ecology Ministry, Benoît Parayre, said: “We made the film available to prefects for them to make the decision.

“We wanted to share this magnificent documentary with the people, who have supported us over the Grenelle [an environmental summit and legislation programme].

“There was no malice, and in no case was this an order.”

The premier of Home by photographer and environmentalist Yann Arthus-Bertrand was shown at public screenings and on TV on June 5.

TV channel France 2 has already defended the timing of the film saying that it was chosen two years in advance when the election dates were unknown and to coincide with World Environment Day.

While channel directors said 81 other channels around the world screened the film, Le Monde claims that few of them were in Europe.